NANJINGNOW

Way back in 2005, Scarlet existed in two incarnations. First, there was the perennially popular and possibly ground breaking (Big) Scarlet, located then as it is now near Hubei Lu. Second, there was (Small/Little) Scarlet, which was little more than a café-turned-nightclub in Wutai Huayuan, located quite close to Wutaishan Stadium on the intersections of Shanghai Lu and Guangzhou Lu. The concept of the dual Scarlets was simple. One could start the night off at Big, get some drinks, meet some people, and generally have a good time. By two or three in the morning, most of the more casual patrons would have cleared out, and the drunker, wilder, and more persistent could move on to Small. At that time, and still somewhat true to this day, Small Scarlet was Nanjing’s only after-hours club.

Since 2005, Nanjing’s club scene has literally exploded. With the growth of everything, there was no way that Small (I have always said Small Scarlet instead of Little, and will continue to do so in this article) Scarlet could possibly stay at the base of a residential district. Maybe people complained about the noise, maybe the management saw the vast opportunities for profit in 1912, or maybe it was some combination of this. Either way, in early summer of 2005, Scarlet moved, and has been a fixture at 1912 ever since. But enough with the history of the bar. Today, Small Scarlet can be seen as an indispensable part of the Nanjing nightlife, but whether or not this is in fact a good thing is certainly open to debate.

To begin with, one should realize that for a long time, Scarlet was the “de facto” leader of the Nanjing scene. This may be attributed to the fact that it was one of the first places of its kind to open in here and therefore instantly garnered a strong reputation among the foreign community. Virtually every foreign exchange student and younger expat knows of Scarlet, and a good number of them go there or have gone on a regular basis.

The upside to this is that it creates a great sense of community for people who are new to the city. Moving abroad is never an easy experience, and going to Scarlet is certainly a very simple way to get in touch with Nanjing’s foreign community. Furthermore, most locals know that Scarlet is the place where foreigners go, so guys might find it easier to meet more “open minded” girls there. What’s more, Scarlet can be significantly cheaper than other bars. Find someone with a VIP card or get one for yourself, and one can get a fifty percent discount on all drinks. Five hundred RMB bottles are instantly reduced to a very affordable amount, especially on a student budget. This point may be Scarlet’s biggest draw.

So, people go to Scarlet. As previously mentioned, Small Scarlet is one of Nanjing’s only after-hours clubs. Mazzo and A8 die down around two or three in the morning, others are completely dead by as early as one. If you want to go out and get seriously drunk, party, and keep it going until the sun comes up or even later, then you don’t have much of a choice (aside from Castle).

That’s a fact, and it seems unlikely to change in the near future. However, a club or bar can be featureless and insipid even if it does keep going until past five in the morning. In the case of Scarlet, there is plenty to complain about. In fact, everything about this club seems to indicate that Scarlet holds the attention (and the cash flow) of so many foreigners not because it is the best club in Nanjing, but merely because it was the first high profile club on the scene.

Scarlet is simply not very interesting in any regard. The interior of the club is reminiscent of its name; it’s red. That is about the biggest thing that comes to mind. Aside from that, one can go in and expect an extremely standard layout: on the ground floor, there are booths and some tables. There is a partially separated room with a large projector, but this seems trite compared to what other bars have to offer. There is absolutely none of the baroque overabundance that makes a place like Mazzo stand out, or the quirky performances sometimes at A8.

On the basement level, there is a small dance floor which violates JR’s first law of a good club. Over the years, club management has added more and more tables. Therefore, it is literally at the point where one can be dancing and collide with the back of someone trying to sit down and enjoy a drink, or vice versa. There is no central stage for dancing; instead there are two boxes which maybe six people can fit on at once, if they are all really thin. However, this does not matter much as there are rarely, if ever, professional performances. Although it may be entertaining to watch some very drunk people dance on a box, one can get much more from the bar scene in Nanjing.

If one feels that the club itself is lacking, the music will be equally as grating. At times, one gets the feeling that the DJ is not mixing, but merely playing songs directly off a CD, MP3 player, or laptop. Not only can patrons expect to hear the same songs most nights they go there, but sometimes they can even hear the songs played in the exact same order! Since 2005, the music selection at Scarlet has not changed much, either. Of course, some songs from previous years have stopped playing, but the selection remains uninspired to say the least.

Here’s the deal: Scarlet might be a good place to start your nightlife in Nanjing, but there are many, many bars and clubs which are significantly better and more interesting. Of course, no place is totally without merit. One can find all sorts of foreigners and locals here, but ultimately you can find that at almost any bar. The biggest draw might ultimately be the low priced booze.

What’s Memorable: The foreign community. Go there and find people from everywhere: America, Cameroon, Indonesia, and everywhere in between. That, and this is basically the only place in Nanjing’s 1912 if you want to party really, really hard (even if you might not remember what actually happened).

What’s Forgettable: Basically everything else. Bland decoration, poor music, and lack of atmosphere make almost any other bar in 1912 more interesting to go to.

The Last Thing You Need to Know: Check out Scarlet, but don’t make a habit of going there too much. There are plenty of other places which are more fun. But, if it’s three in the morning and you still feel the night is young, you are pretty much required to stop by a few times.